Would LinkedIn treat you differently if you were male and white?

Would LinkedIn give you more reach if you told it you were a man? Maybe. Here's what the algorithm really does with your demographic data.

What if we all told LinkedIn we were men?
Or better yet, white men?

I've been thinking about the experiment that Cindy Gallop, Jane Evans, Stephen McGinnis, and Matt Lawton ran. (Details below.) The numbers are startling.

No experiment is perfect, and this one is telling. However, one of the problems is that the new algorithm has decided to "prioritize" smaller creators, like Matt and Stephen. That means that they are getting more reach per capita simply b/c they have smaller followings.

Anyway, add that to the fact that Cindy talks about things that some people find uncomfortable (as do I), and we're f*cked.

Interestingly, I have a comparable audience to Matt, but I've had posts flagged and removed. (No notice, BTW. Just *poof* and they were gone.) I doubt he's had any removed.

Upshot? My reach isn't anywhere as good as Matt's. Indeed, the same week, my post got 1500 views (compared to his nearly 12K) and 2.5x the number of comments (66 to his 27). Beth Massa's post last week got 4000 impressions (9 comments). I wrote about this yesterday.

Side vent:
Has anyone considered the fact that the REASON that Cindy and other women and POC with large followings, like Isvari Maranwe, Erin Gallagher, and many others (can't tag them all here or LinkedIn will de-prioritize this post!) have such large followings is precisely BECAUSE there aren't enough diverse voices speaking on uncomfortable topics?

So what's the solution?

Some are suggesting that we stop paying for Premium, but since LI is now pay-to-play (paid accounts get priority), your content will get even LESS reach.

I wonder what would happen if we changed our demographics to state that we are m-@-l-e? Better yet, straight and white, too?

LinkedIn knows so much about us--seriously, so much more than you realize. I am seriously thinking of changing mine to see if that makes a difference in my reach.

Here's the post that inspired this one.

Categories: : For Women on LinkedIn, Platform Bias, Real Talk, Visibility & Engagement